Fins, acres of chrome, whitewall tires, and the ability to mend itself – what more could a gearhead want from his collector car? Aside from the demonic possession, that is. For the 30th anniversary of Christine – both the novel and the movie – this year’s Chryslers at Carlisle will include a special display dedicated to the fiendish Fury.

In a 1984 interview, writer Stephen King said he chose a 1958 Plymouth Fury to play the inhuman title character in his book from the year prior because Furys “were the most mundane Fifties car that I could remember. I didn’t want a car that already had a legend attached to it like the fifties Thunderbird, the Ford Galaxies etc… Nobody ever talked about the Plymouth products.”

(Never mind that Plymouth intended the Fury from the start as a sort of halo car, available only as a two-door hardtop and with Plymouth’s most powerful engines its first three years. It’s also worth noting that, while Plymouth only offered the Fury in Eggshell White with gold anodized trim for its first three years in 1956, then beige and gold in 1957 and 1958, King described Christine as a red-and-white four-door with stainless trim; he explained that it was a custom order. Carpenter made it a two-door hardtop but stuck to the same “custom order” explanation for the red paint.)

King did a good job of attaching a new legend to the Fury: After his book was released in April 1983, producer Richard Kobritz and director John Carpenter turned it into a film released that December. Since then, just about every 1957-1958 Plymouth owner has grown sick of hearing his or her car referred to as the car from Christine, and countless clones have been built.

Of the two dozen or so cars built for the movie – some of them Furys, but many of them Savoys and Belvederes done up as Furys – four are known to survive today. Carpenter reportedly kept one, another was given away in a promotional contest around the time of the movie’s release, and two were diverted to private owners before the rest ended up in Bill and Ed’s Auto Wrecking in Fontana, California, the junkyard tasked with scrapping the cars destroyed in filming. Unlike the fictional Christine, the various film Christines didn’t have the ability to repair themselves.

One of those latter two surviving cars, a Belvedere-turned-Fury owned by Bill Gibson of Pensacola, Florida, will appear at Chryslers at Carlisle alongside five of the movie’s cast members: Keith Gordon (who played Arnie Cunningham), Alexandra Paul (who played Leigh Cabot), William Ostrander (who played Buddy Repperton), Malcolm Danare (who played Moochie Wells) and Steven Tash (who played Rich Cholony).

In addition to the Christine celebration, this year’s Chryslers at Carlisle will also feature a Max Wedge reunion, a gathering of living Ramchargers members, the guy who played Enos in Dukes of Hazzard, and a Daisy Dukes contest. Chryslers at Carlisle will take place July 12-14. For more information, visit CarsatCarlisle.com.

My good friend and fellow collector Naif Makol owns a 58 Fury with the dual quad 318 poly. The B block 350 was optional. I always enjoy seeing a row of these at a show such as Chryslers at Carlisle. That show in particular is worth attending if any of you have even the slightest curiosity over the Forward Look Chrysler products (officially 55-61 but really 57-61).

As the smallest and least capitalized of the big 3, mid-century Chrysler products are some of the most interesting domestic cars and I’ve enjoyed being a student of them since building and showing my 61 Savoy Super stock at the 2007 Chryslers at Carlisle.

I encourage those of you who can swing it to go. While a single marque show might seem tedious, this one is not. From Imperials to Ram Inducted Polara’s and New Yorker convertables, Chrysler products from this era, build quality notwithstanding, are some of the most exciting and valuable domestic cars you will see.

What’s more is that owners of these cars have no hesitation in plowing dump truck loads of money into their restorations because unlike many other brands, the cars are often still worth as much or more than what is spent doing so. As a result, you will see breathtaking examples of cars mostly seen only in coffee table books.

The demand for the 1957 car was so high that quality fell when they upped production. This resulted in lots bad feeling among buyers that hurt Chrysler for years. They were also very prone to rust making them hard to find or worth restoring later on. Still I love the Forward Look! 57 Fury and Chrysler 300C

Well, most of the details were correct, anyway. The original `56 Fury WAS done in eggshell white, while the `57 and `58 models were done in sand beige. Owning one of the extras from this film would be hard to do; everyone knows what it’s associated with (the movie) and always asking stupid questions. Id own anything but a “Christine”.

Perhaps this is nit-picking, but it is still a question for any of you aficionados. I have always thought that the “Fury” in the movie was a modified Belvedere, because it was Red, instead of Sandy Tan, and that the side trim filler was always Golden, and not Silver,(which was saved for the Belvedere). I thought that in the movie, the car was often showed with the Silver trim, and of course, we all know that it is Red. Anyone know for sure?

My son Derek and I owned this very actual movie car before Bill. Most of it came from the movie but was rebuilt shortly after after it crashed into the Camaro. A really fun car for my son to enjoy at shows; Bill has done a nice job of having it straightened out from the collision. 1983 Camaro Red, silver wheels, actual movie interior.

Not all ’56 Furys were white. For a long time there was a black one in Bend, Oregon. Yes, factory black. Window sticker, order sheet, build sheet, etc. all specified black. Owner claimed there were some besides his, but regardless, the black was simply STUNNING with the gold anodized insert!!

Daniel, your comment about the ’58′s having the poly with the 350 being an option is surprising. I have never seen a ’58 with the poly – every single one I’ve ever seen has been a 350. I have a road test and a sales brochure for ’58 and they both address the 350 and how much quieter and more powerful it was than the poly. Not saying you’re wrong, just that I was very surprised by your comment.

I’d give a leg for a ’58 with the 350, but they cost more than my legs now!!

I think Plymouth was the best looking of the “Forward Look” Mopars. There is another good movie with a Forward Look 1957 Plymouth in it. The movie was the “California Kid” starring a young Martin Sheen.

Actually, that car the crooked ‘sheriff’ drove was a `58. I remember how phony it looked as a 2dr. hardtop ‘cop car’. I laughed when Martin Sheen got the upper hand in the end, but wanted to cry when that blue `58 got wrecked.

Glad I’m not the only car guy who wants to tear up when some movie wanker who drives a Prius to make himself feel warm and fuzzy decides to wreck a classic car “for effect”.

I still have nightmares about that ’59 Caddy which GM decided to wreck to prove that modern computer-designed cars are safer than ’50s iron designed by men with dreams and vision…. showing again that GM does not really understand the love of cars some folks have.

I agree with you with Josh. I have seen some great cars destroyed at Monster trucks shows, demolition derbys and in the movies. Thank God for CGI since often they are using computers instead of destroying the real thing.

I believe that was a ’59 Chevy that they crashed into a 2009 Malibu, Josh. And, I agree with you. Was it really necessary to prove that a new car with crumple zones and an engine that drops on impact collides with a car made a half-century earlier?

You’re right, sorry. I just Googled it and it appears also that it was the National Institute for highway Safety and not GM which did it. Nonetheless, it was the sight of that classic iron being mangled which stuck with me…. I guess I blocked out the details. I don’t think anyone would argue that a classic car is not as safe as a modern car with crumple zones, air bags and seat belts, but safety is not actually why I (or most folks) drive classic cars.

Christine was made well before any Prius was ever built, not to mention those Plymouths were nothing more then just another over 20 year old beater at the time.

It was a Chevy not a Caddy, and they did it to shut up the ignorant cry babies that kept touting todays cars suck and arent half as safe as cars made “in the good old days with real steel…”. GMs proved just the opposite, the old cars are horrendus death traps even when going head to head against a mid-sized modern car.

I saw this in December ’83. The theater had lost its heat, and the manager told the huge crowd they could see the premier if they didn’t mind freezing. The early scenes were set in winter, and the effect was that you felt like you were actually there! A fantastic experience.

I had a maxed-out (allegedly “1 of 50 virtually hand-built pre-production Showroom Show Stoppers” with Tinted Power Windows, Power Door Locks, PS, PB, DeLuxe Upholstery, Rear Push-out Vent Windows, etc., in Dark Metallic Blue over a Medium Metallic Blue 4-cyl, 4-spd) 1980 Chevy Citation 4-dr sedan that I was cleaning out and making ready to trade-in that same day for a new 1986 Dodge Shadow Turbo 4-dr, 4-spd sedan. I was removing the contents of the Citation’s glove box when all four of the power door locks engaged without my participation (or permission) ! Oh well, “…these things can happen…” so I released the manual slide-style door lock to exit the front pass. door to fetch my keys, just in case they locked again and just as I exited the car, the doors immediately locked closed. I got my keys and unlocked the front Driver’s door but between the time I removed the door lock key and placed my hand on the door handle, the door locks Locked up Tight ! By the way, I had never had any problems with any of these gadgets until then !!!

Uh Oh !!! This car has an attitude and IT IS NOT HAPPY !!!

I can do THIS! So This time I was ready… I HAD to enter the car to pull the hood-release latch handle under the dash, so that I could remove the fuse involved with the Power Door Locks. So with my left hand on the door handle AND my right hand ready to unlock the driver’s door, I was able to time my effort to open the door before the locks engaged, which THEY did.

I was happy to say that I traded-in the Citation without any embarrassment at the dealer (the fuse was removed) but I was also happy to see that the Shadow did not have power door locks.

A 1980 Citation? It’s a plague! If GM caught it also, perhaps we should be cautious of our vehicles. With so many new cars offering “park assist,” I wonder how much time we mere humans have remaining until cars take over the Earth?

However, there are good cars and good people, but never have I encountered cars intent on destroying everything. Perhaps cars might govern better than the megalomaniacs dominating certain other countries. I would NOT want to reside in North Korea, Iran, or Syria.

Amusingly, the 1964 Imperial Crown I bought a few years ago must be one of the “good” cars. When I began driving it home 800 miles from its previous home to my home, the Auto Pilot, automatic parking brake release, and high-beam headlight red warning light in the instrument cluster did not work. Before I could have those items repaired, they “fixed themselves” and have functioned perfectly ever since.

Great book, so-so movie—and knowing so many cars were wrecked filming it still makes me queasy. Along with describing Christine as a four-door, King took other liberties, including a mischaracterized engine displacement. But no matter: He single-handedly boosted interest in (and prices of) the iconic Fury. Make mine a three on the tree with the more-interesting, dual-quad 318 poly and its semi-hemi heads!

Thanks, Bob, for not making me feel like a total car geek. I remember seeing those mistakes in the book when I first read it back in the 80s and thinking, geez, doesn’t anyone with automotive knowledge work in editing? And on top of those you mentioned, King at one point refers to a Camaro as a Ford.

Still, the book gave me the creeps, particularly the scenes with the ghost of Ronald LeBay. The movie? Not so much. . .

I do remember going to see this movie! At the time, I was driving a ’77 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham 4-dr. hardtop. It was white with a dk. red leather interior and a dk. red vinyl roof. I had it parked under a light in an indoor parking area. As my girlfriend and I approached the car after the movie, I said to it, “I don’t want no nonsense out of you!”. I still drove home kinda scared!

god love s. king but his knowledge of fifties cars is compa rable to my grasp of writing a novel. “he picked the Plymouth fury because it was the most mundane of the 50′s cars? maybe in backwoods maine but certainly not in the rest of the world.early in the book he stated something to the effect that the car came in gm’s brightest red and when he had the gear shift lever drop into drive (hard to imagine the pushbutton trans and a gear shift lever) it was really enough info to let us all know it had nothing to do about a car, let alone a Plymouth fury. enjoyable read if you are into that stuff but certainly not about cars. jmo

I’m in agreement with you, Dan. Stephen King is a superb writer, but I believe that he fails to research subjects necessary to creating a novel displaying realistic knowledge. Dean Koontz is far better with his accuracies.

Most certainly I enjoyed the book and the movie although each had several annoying inaccuracies. I may not be quoting King exactly correctly, but I was rather upset (and I’m being euphemistic) when I read “… he pulled the hydramatic down into low …” Good grief! Not only is that a GM transmission, but also it’s a proper noun and should have been capitalized. I’m not a writer — no creative talent — but even “I, Dummy” (apologies to the late Isaac Asimov for my “stealing” and modifying his book title) am aware of the necessity of researching a topic prior to publishing works intended to be sold. Non sequitur: One of Dr. Asimov’s later cars was a new 1978 Dodge.

Most of the commenters have noted these errors, but they seemed to occur with excessive frequency. In the movie adaptation, never are the TorqueFlite push buttons visible. For that matter, has anyone seen any real 1958 Plymouth with push-down front door locks? Nonexistent, of course, on Exner Mopars; front doors were locked by pushing the door handle forward; rear doors had a toggle switch on the door panel.

I did not and do not wish King any negative experiences, but I believe that it was most appropriate that it was a Plymouth Voyager which took “revenge” against King in 1999 when the writer was hit by a Voyager. Perhaps the Voyager was a “relative” of Christine, as the Voyager’s owner, Bryan Smith, died a year later at age 43.

I was 16 in 1958 when my father traded his 54 Dodge hemi for a 58 Plymouth Savoy 2dr hartop painted red and white. I had the worst night of my life in that car. I pulled out in front of a car and barely escaped a bad crash. We made a run for it, with the other car in hot pursuit. That 58 was a runner and we got away down a side road which turned to dirt then mud. We buried the car to the frame about two miles down in the woods. After calling my father, he insisted on walking to the site of the hang up. He kept repeating over and over again, “How the “h” did you get this far?”. What was I to tell him? The thing handled the mud well until the speed dropped below 80. I had to pay every dime to get the thing fixed. When I finally saw Chritstine I was not surprised.

Always enjoy seeing the “Forward Look” Plymouth taxis in “It’s a Mad, Mad…World”. They do bounce off of each other a few times. Seeing them in their original environment (more or less) is fun, too. In that movie, they are just part of the landscape, which is part of the fun, and reminds me of the “what do you see here” vintage photos on this site, in movie form.

Not long after the movie opened I bought a 1958 Plymouth 2-door hardtop parts car that had sat for a while, a coral-colored car with brown and tan interior. I ended up selling a lot of 1958-specific trim pieces to a guy in Pennsylvania who was building a “Christine” out of a 1957 car. When I finally sold the parts car it passed through a couple of owners and ended up with a guy who built it into a “Christine”, and showed it quite a bit in western Washington. He equipped it with a remote-control tape player, and had lots of fun with people at shows, waiting until they were looking at the motor, then suddenly starting up “Bad to the Bone”.

I can’t count the times I have said “show me” when no one was listening and I stood in front of my latest restoration project. Alas, none of them have been self repairing. The scenes of the car fixing itself made the rest of the movie worth watching.

……..lots of old Plymouth love today………the biggest reason that Furys are so rare today is the fact that they were rare then. Both Chev and Ford hardtops outsold them by huge multiples, and even in the day, you could go weeks without seeing one (7,000 total in 1957). They were off the radar for most of my peers, but I liked the fact that they were available only in “hi-performance” specification, unlike Bel Airs and Fairlanes, which usually had “cooking” motors, or even 6 cylinders, underhood.

I read the book and saw the movie. I have to agree with most of the comments on both. I have to say that since then, whenever I encounter a ’57/’58 Plymouth (anything) I always look again to see if the headlights suddenly come on. Just a conditioned reflex.

While my wife thinks that “Christine” was one of the worst movies of all time, I had a 1958 Belvidere 2-door hard top in 1964 while I was in high school and I liked the movie. It was green, not red. I liked the car. It drove well and had plenty of power. It did have a tendency to backfire and light the carburetor on fire, but I got good at putting out the fire before damage was done. My family moved from California to Milwaukee, and the Belvidere did not make the move. I hope it survived, but I doubt it.

CURRENT issue of HorrorHound magazine has a painting of Christine on the cover, a six-page story on the book and movie (including photos of FOREIGN Christine movie posters!), a page on the Christine “junkyard” mentioned in the Hemmings entry, a page or two on a man who restored a Christine from the pile, and if I remember correctly, five pages of “Hallowed Ground”–the monthly feature where the mag goes off and tracks down the actual location shoots of old horror movies, and shows what’s there now–and this month is ‘Christine’!!
Lots of the usual monthly editorial package covering horror films (the “new” Evil Dead…), horror comics, horror collectibles (Christine diecasts, toys, and models!!), horror music…and a page on another man who restored the ’41 Chevy COE truck from the movie ‘Jeepers Creepers’!!!

“Christine” was a freaking disaster for 57-58 Furys and anyone who really appreciates Forward Look cars. The book is fine, the movie is fine because King and Carpenter are professionals at creating entertaining stories.

It was the bastard interbreeding of pop culture with the fan boy’s vision that resulted in a long tedious procession of Christine look alikes. Every time I see one of those clones I have to avert my eyes. I get the psycho-sexual subtext in play here. It’s good fun but some of these guys take it at face value and that’s just creepy. Please! No more red and white 57-58 Plymouths.

I worked for a while at a used car lot. We used a gas station across the street to do the mandated state inspections and supply us with fuel. I remember someone taking a Lincoln Towncar over there for gas. The car was left at the pumps unattended for a few minutes and decided to lock itself with the keys still in the ignition! Fortunately for the driver, he left his window down. This became a common occurrence until I found some frayed wires in the driver’s door harness. Problem exorcised!

The ignorance of most people in Hollywood never ceases to amaze me. The ’57 cars caused GM to tear up their entire product plan & create entire new lines for ’59. BTW, Ford outsold Chevy in ’57. Ford was in no position to retool since they had the Edsel coming out. Destroying cars is a long Hollyrot tradition- Dukes, Batcrapmobile, & so many more. The notoriety they engender isn’t worth their destruction.

Our own “Christine” was a 1958 Pink Plymouth Savoy. The push button automatic was a mystery to me in those days. But alas the flat head six developed a crack between two valves, and even the can of BOILER SEALER poured into the radiator at the suggestion of a friend, failed to stop the overheating and tail pipe smoke.
I drove it to the junk yard and left it running after taking the tags off.
I’m not sure what they did with it.
I wish it had resurrected itself, it’s now worth 10 times what it cost .